Royal treatment: Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas greets Dale Mitchell on the pitcher’s mound after the World War II veteran threw out the ceremonial opening pitch in Monday’s season opener against the Chicago White Sox. The pitch was witnessed by 40,000 fans attending the game and the television audience on the Fox network.
by Phil Conger
Harrison County’s multitude of Royals baseball fans had more than one reason to celebrate Kansas City’s 10-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox to open the baseball season on Monday.
One of our own, Dale Mitchell, was chosen to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in the game in front of 40,000 cheering Royals fans and a wide television audience.
Mitchell said he was told last Tuesday by his granddaughter, Ranae Shahan, that he had been asked by the Royals’ organization to throw out the pitch at Monday’s opener.
“I thought she was kidding,” Mitchell said.
Dale’s family had first nominated him to sit in legendary baseball player Buck O’Neal’s seat at the stadium, citing his service record during World War II. But Ranae received an email from the Royals asking whether her grandfather would be willing to throw out the pitch.
Mitchell’s selection came as a surprise to the war vet and his family.
“Usually they have celebrities to do that,” Mitchell said.
“This time they just picked an old farmer,” he laughed.
Some 47 members of Dale’s family attended the Royals game to watch him throw out the ball.
With photographs of Mitchell in his Army uniform scrolling across the jumbo video screen at Kauffman Stadium, the public address announcer recounted the Bethany resident’s experiences in the war.
The crowd learned what many of Dale’s friends and family have known for many years.
Dale was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force serving as a belly gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress that was hit by anti-aircraft fire on a bombing run over a railroad yard in Vienna, Austria. Mitchell and his crew managed to bail out of the damaged plane but were captured by Axis troops. He spent the next four months at a prison of war camp in Germany before he was liberated at the end of the war.
The crowd cheered as Mitchell calmly walked toward the pitcher’s mound, rubbing the baseball like a pro, before throwing the ball in a arc to Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas.
Mitchell told a reporter for the Kansas City Star after the game that he was glad that he was on target with his pitch to Moustakas.
“He didn’t have to run after it,” Mitchell said.